Defensive end Jared Allen unhappy Carolina Panthers sitting him out of NFC Championship Game

Originally published January 22, 2016 at 7:40 pm
Updated January 22, 2016 at 8:44 pm

Coach Ron Rivera said it was a tough decision, but one he made with the team’s best interest in mind. Allen was not pleased. “Not happy, plain and simple. I’m ready to rock,” Allen said. “Coach’s decision, gotta live with it.”

Allen practiced on a limited basis Thursday, but Rivera told him Friday morning he wouldn’t play against the Cardinals. Second-year defensive end Kony Ealy will get the start opposite Charles Johnson. Ryan Delaire will be active.

Allen believes he’s healthy enough that he would have been effective against Arizona, the NFL’s top-ranked offense.

“A hundred percent. But it’s coach’s call,” he said. “I respect coach, so I’ve got to respect his decision. It is what it is.”

Allen is confident he can play in the Super Bowl if the Panthers beat Arizona.

“I’ll be ready to go,” he said.

Notes

• San Francisco coach Chip Kelly said he’s looking for an assortment of ideas and backgrounds on offense, and he’s getting that in his new offensive coordinator, Curtis Modkins. Kelly decided on Modkins, 45, to help him run his offense. Modkins has been the running-backs coach in Buffalo and most recently Detroit. In both places, he favored a running backs-by-committee approach — Marshawn Lynch was one of his rushers with the Bills — and was well versed in power running. Kelly, who will call the plays for San Francisco, favored zone-blocking schemes with the Eagles.

In other 49ers news, Fox Sports reported that Kelly has decided not to retain defensive coordinator Eric Mangini.

• The Chicago Bears have hired Dave Ragone as quarterbacks coach.

• New England’s Danny Amendola has been fined $23,152 for a blindside block during a punt in the Patriots’ playoff victory over Kansas City.

• Cleveland announced the addition of defensive coordinator Ray Horton, a former UW player from Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma, and 10 other assistants.

• The authority that runs O.co Coliseum will meet behind closed doors Monday to discuss how it will approach a lease extension for the Oakland Raiders, providing further indication that the team is staying put for at least one more season.

• Former Raiders defensive end Anthony Wayne Smith was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1999 torture killings of two brothers and the 2001 slaying of another man.